Chiaroscuro
by Clavain
Summary: PMD2 AU. A vulpix awakens alone in the heart of a forest. Confused and scared, without memory, she accidentally causes a large fire in which pokémon die. Determined to spend the rest of her life atoning for her initial mistake, she vows to travel with a young zorua, and if possible recover her memories. But before long she becomes tangled in the Magnezone Time Gear investigation...
1. Ablaze

**CHAPTER 1: Ablaze**

The small vulpix woke up alone in a gloomy forest covered by a fog so absolute that the time of day was indecipherable. To her side there lay what appeared upon first glance to be a pool, but when inspected turned out to be a drop downwards, the mist gathering below was dense enough to create the illusion of water. She peered over before stumbling away from the overhang, shocked.

Where was she? More importantly, how did she get there? The fox desperately tried to remember something, _anything, _and amidst random knowledge about pokémon which did nothing to place or define her one concrete fact floated to the surface in her mind. The vupix's name was Ashen and she was a human. The rest remained a blur. And yet… she was not a human here. Somewhere in her mental archives her mind offered up that she was a vulpix, but this barely registered because her mind still felt as clouded as her misty surroundings.

A soft glow caught her eye, ahead in the mist, shifting shadows in the half-light. Ashen approached it cautiously, treating the carpet of rotting leaves almost with reverence in the way she delicately picked her way across it. The small fox found it strangely easy walking on four legs and had already developed elegance in her gait, although her hesitation marred this slightly. Before long there was a wall of light looming through the fog, projecting a clinical whiteness outwards, and at the centre lay an aquamarine metallic object.

It was familiar, somehow. In this world so alien to Ashen, of which she knew nothing, this held some unspeakable mental connection with whatever her past had been. It filled her with wonder and hope which seemed to stem from some supressed memory she could not access, although the very mystery of the feeling left her with tainting unease. She took a step forwards, cautiously, to the glowing centre, to try and touch it somehow…

Something heavy thudded into the small of her back and she turned around, alarmed and fearful. There was a hostile small purple rat behind her. _Rattata, _she acknowledged. More information seemed to spread from there: _evolves into raticate, often hostile, attacks in mobs._ She attempted to scan the undergrowth around the Rattata to see if it was accompanied when it hit her again, this time not leaving a bruise, but instead biting hard into her right foreleg.

She screamed and jumped back, adrenalin rushing through her. Unsure of how to fight she braced herself and attempted a menacing growl which turned out to be more of a pathetic whine. The rattata rushed at her again, and she saw another appear in the background. Ashen fled.

Its snapping teeth only just missed the fire fox's back leg and she knew they would hit their target next time. On three legs she was unbalanced and awkward, even worse unable to see where she was going in this infernal fog. In was only a matter of time before the vulpix fell down somewhere and then she would be easy prey. Ashen's heart beat in a frenzy, painfully within her chest, her panic rising and the instinct to survive stronger than ever before.

She turned out her head only to see a rattata in mid-air about to strike. Her mouth opened in a scream of terror, and out with it burst a massive fireball. It struck the rat and blew it backwards until it disappeared into the fog and she heard an ominous thud. She noticed a few other silhouettes retreating, scared off by her fire. Ashen had produced that, she realized, and that was when the fact that she was a vulpix sunk in. She sat down with a start, overcome by fatigue, injury and shock, and rested.

Her eyes drifted closed as she lay there, exposed on the forest floor but shrouded by the fog.

* * *

When Ashen awoke fire was all around her. She stood up with a start, putting a painful amount of pressure on her foreleg before she remembered to lift it. The bite still hurt. She could see flames glowing through the dark smoke, flickering and revealing nothing about their distance from her in their brightness due to the density of the smoke. Whether the fog remained or not she could not tell, but perhaps it was contributing to her mysterious surroundings.

The vulpix looked around, her eyes wild. Which direction was the fire burning in? It seemed to be everywhere, and in her dizzy and disoriented state she just seemed to be trapped in a whirlwind of fire on all sides. Ashen struggled to her feet, cast a terrified glance around, and then ran in a random direction. Before long she found herself running through flames, determined not to stop, and not fully registering the effect they had on her body.

In her state of mind the array of colours was dizzying. Pinks and even blues leapt up in the centre, surrounded by gold, brilliant orange, and crimson red. The world kept swirling around her; her viewpoint was constantly dynamic, shifting as she ran. Her injured foot sent a jolt of pain up her body when it snagged on a sickeningly soft bundle that had possibly been breathing previously… had she killed? It was more than just the rattata.

For someone whose mind was a clean slate she felt as though she had already done enough harm in the world in her few moments of consciousness.

The scale of the fire began to dawn on her as she fell over and began to gag, her body having nothing to throw up. This forest could be vaster than she could imagine, and who knew what sentient pokémon would get caught in the blaze? That fire that had come from within her… this fire…

Ashen sat down, glancing over her body, shocked to discover no burn marks. _Of course_, she realized, _flash fire. I absorb the flames. Fire is part of me now_. If anything it made her feel empowered, she was soaking up the strength of the fire. If not for her injury and inner turmoil she would have been at her most powerful. Then she stood up, tenderly this time, and limped along slowly. Despite the fact that the destruction around her, leaving logs charred and hollow, this was still not somewhere she wanted to be: it unsettled her. Eventually the smoky mist parted and she found herself at the shore of a lake. Within it she could see some pokémon seeking refuge in the water.

It was ironic that before Ashen would have also sheltered in the lake, but now it posed more of a threat to her than the inferno. She staggered into some bushes that would soon be ashes by the shore of the lake and let herself fall unconscious. Her last thought was that she hated being a pokémon, especially one which could cause such destruction.

* * *

When she awoke the vulpix was on a pile of oddly comfortable straw. _That's a perk of being a vulpix,_ she thought bitterly, _straw is comfortable now._ Then the fox sat up with a start and looked at what she could see of herself again. Orange and furry.

With the drama of the previous day she had not fully come to terms with being a pokémon yet. Everything had just happened so quickly the former human hadn't had time to question being a pokémon, the fight to survive had been a priority. And yet now, in the light of day, unclouded by fog, it seemed even more surreal than it had in the dense forest. How could she change species? The little knowledge she retained had nothing about that in it and it seemed like an absurd idea. Anyone she told would just think she was delusional. And yet… she had to find out, somehow, because the glowing object in the forest had evoked some sense of meaning for her, a sense that she was _meant_ to do something. Whatever it was, it nagged inside of her in the form of a small degree of anxiety, whatever it had been was terribly important. Maybe it would help redeem for the fire.

Her eyes rested on her right foreleg which had been bandaged. The injury hadn't been that serious, surely the burns of others would have used up the attention of her benefactor? She began to slowly look around, but she did not see the massive infirmary she had expected. It was not a house either, but some bare room that looked as though it was underground. Then a horrible thought struck her: what if this was some kind of prison? No, no one had been there to see her light the fire, she was safe, from that kind of retribution anyway.

Ashen began to get to her feet when a trapdoor she had not thought to look for swung open and golden light seeped through. The entrant looked holy in the glowing halo entering the basement with them, and bore a smile akin to one from any saint.

"You shouldn't get up to strain yourself," the male charmeleon chided, "you've done too much running on that leg already. It needs to rest."

"But…" Ashen began, but suddenly changed the course of the conversation when she realized it would be rude to reject this kindly pokémon's advice. "I mean, thank you so much for looking after me. I'm…" she briefly considered having an alias, then decided it would be futile. Maybe they'd have heard of her and be able to give her information, anyway. "Ashen."

"Flo," the charmeleon offered.

There was a brief silence between them. Ashen looked away, awkward and depressingly conscious that she did not know any social conventions. For all she knew she could be being incredibly rude.

"Uh," she tried, nervous, "uh… thank you again, but I don't want to be a burden."

"No, it's fine, little vulpix. I'm always glad to have visitors. Are you hungry?"

"I would… yes… I'd like some food if you have some to spare."

Wordlessly he left, closing the trap door that was out of her reach behind him. This entire situation was terrifying and although the charmeleon had not seemed predatory that was all she could think about: his intent. Maybe it said something about where she was from that she was so suspicious, but being trapped in someone's basement did not seem like a safe place. The fire-type rose to her feet with a small wobble.

Pacing was hard now her earlier adrenalin had dissipated. Now her walking was slow the bump in her gait was more pronounced and the pain in her leg was so bad she ended up doing a hop-like movement with every step. She could move, but there was no chance of outrunning her benefactor. If, she reminded herself, he did need to be outrun.

Part of her wanted to set the basement alight, despite her previous horrific encounter with fire, just to see some bright light. Another was sure she would never breathe fire again, how could she? Maybe if she never used it nothing like the forest would ever happen again. That reminded her, she should ask him about how bad the damage was. Maybe in that fog she ran in circles and it was only fifty meters at most, or it was a really tiny forest. _Denial,_ Ashen thought, but she still kept speculating. Maybe they had all escaped the flames. It was possible.

The trapdoor opened again, with it the light, charmeleon and a plate of toasted berries.

"Here," he offered her the delicious food.

The vulpix took it with a nod and wavered slightly over whether to eat it straight away or to ask her questions before he disappeared.

"I see you stood up, against my advice."

"I had to see that I could. Uh, please could I go up? This basement is… depressing. I want to see the air." Suddenly, before she could stop herself, some of the questions she had been meaning to ask were blurted out, "Where am I? Why are no other burn victims here? How big was the fire?"

He laughed for a while before replying, "You can go upstairs in a second, I just had to check that you weren't going to be feral. You're in my house, a small shack by the lake. There are no other victims here because they all seemed feral and I didn't know who to trust, but I had never seen a vulpix around here before so I took you in. The fire was large, but there have and will be larger."

"The death toll?"

"Maybe fifty. Only a few that were sentient, though, most were mindless. I think the only thing the magnezone will be concerned about is whether the perpetrator will do it again, and the loss of habitat. They'll send a squad to guard the Time Gear, it won't have been damaged in the fire."

"Time Gear..?"

She felt stupid. He looked at her with a mixture of surprise and newfound suspicion.

"They're blue and made of metal, and control time in a region..?"

"I… I'm not from around here. Do they glow? I think I saw one in the forest."

"Hm, you must be from very far away… but yes, they glow. They're normally hidden, this one by the fog, so the destruction of the forest is quite serious. No one would ever steal one, but feral pokémon might damage one or something. In all known cases that just results in a stop in time in the area…" he trailed off, seemingly getting more distantly removed into memory.

"Upstairs?" she asked gently.

"Oh yes, follow me," the charmeleon abruptly snapped out of his trance and walked up the rope ladder.

It was worn in places where small claws not unlike her own had seemingly worn it away over time. The rope was fraying, slightly, but she still managed to grip on in order to climb the short way up. However, once she had reached the top and lain down to rest her foot, she noticed that the house seemed odd for a charmeleon. The bed in the corner was surely too small; the space would normally accommodate a pokémon of her size. There was a suspicious amount of flammable material around, although the walls were stone.

Although she had never been in a fire-type's house it all seemed very suspicious. She didn't want to distrust her host, but she kept thinking that he must be a bandit who had stolen the house. Maybe where she had come from it was abnormal for a pokémon to take another in, because the entire thing felt alien and uncomfortable. Ashen sat down on the floor and ate the berries, determined to distract herself from these negative thoughts.

As she ate her leg wound's throb lessened, until by the time it was finished she could barely feel it. The vulpix looked down in surprise and found there only to be a scar. She knew, remembered, that oran berries had regenerative qualities, but she had never thought they could be this strong. Her leg flexed as powerfully as it had her first day of being a pokémon.

She looked up to thank him, but he was gone.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**** This will be updated quite often, I'm excited about it. Before long we're going to find out all sorts of mysteries~! I have so many plot twists planned everyone will just be chasing in circles. This fanfic should be about ten chapters long, but could increase to fifteen. Please read and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon**


	2. Extinguish

**CHAPTER 2: Extinguish**

Eventually, later that evening, the charmeleon returned.

"Easy pickings," he explained, "most of the food's already been cooked by the fire and is half-dead to begin with. There's no chase."

He dragged a sack behind him. Ashen felt nauseous, she could just imagined the charred remains inside. Death by fire was supposed to be one of the worst kinds of death…

"I'm… a vegetarian." She tried, in vain hope, desperate to not recall the fire.

He narrowed his eyes, "What is it with you, I don't understand. You're not telling me something. You have a very odd name for a fire-type, you don't know what a Time Gear is and you don't eat meat. I don't know any vulpix, but I'm sure that they are carnivorous…"

"Isn't it… cannibalism or something?" the vulpix cowered, unable to articulate any believable reason. She instantly regretted coming up with such a flimsy excuse, especially one she already knew to be false.

"No, and that perspective is even stranger. You act like you've never been around pokémon before..." He had a childlike inflection in his voice at the end which did not suit his appearance, one of reproach.

"I… I…" she searched desperately for an excuse, but saw only his accusatory eyes. She had to tell him, what else could she say? "I'm a human."

He laughed.

"No, I mean…" she stumbled over words, "I woke up in the centre of the forest, alone, without memories… well I knew quite a lot about pokémon, but I had none of _my_ memoires. All I remembered was my name and that I was human." She looked at him, but he looked sceptical. "I know it sounds insane… and I'm not sure I even trust it myself. But it's all I have to go on…" She withheld the information about the Time Gears, already she had given him too much information to digest.

"I... I _think_ I believe you," he finished, childlike again, "I mean, I can think of no other explanation. I believe that you have amnesia, but the human thing is too much to ask."

A sudden and irrational surge of irritation flowed through Ashen. This charmeleon had believed her, more than she had expected, but for some reason his hesitant attitude and the way he _almost_ fully believed her made her furious. Maybe it was the emotions that had been bubbling under the surface since the forest fire, maybe it was the strain of all of her new awakening, but suddenly she snapped.

"Fine. You believe me." Her eyes flared, and she felt something burning within her. She refused to let it bubble to the surface with the force of her resentment alone. "But why should I believe you?" This was spat, an insult, "You question me, and yet this is clearly not the house of a charmeleon. What did you do to the owner? Did you kill them like you're planning to kill me?"

Then a wave of terror returned and she cursed her hot-headedness. Confronting him had probably made her situation worse.

And then, suddenly, the entire room around her shifted although her feet remained rooted to earth. She fell to her four knees from the dizziness, disoriented and certain that something had just changed for her. It was as though she had a screen put in front of her face, her mind, she fought to shift it but it clung to her, artificial and tenacious, altering her perception dramatically.

She shook her head viciously, to no avail, and then looked upon the room once more. It had completely changed. Whereas before it had been normal with small tell-tale signs that the place had been inhabited by something smaller than "Flo" the charmeleon, all of these signs were now gone, and the hut altogether. Instead it had been rearranged into some fantasy idea of what the home of a fire-type should be. She shuddered.

It was not real, but the perfect imitation, born within something interfering between the connection with her eyes and brain. When she shut off all visual stimulus then abruptly, without warning, snapped them open the scene changed, only for a split second, into a phantom of its previous appearance.

She let out a cry of alarm, although thankfully no fire followed it this time. Then she turned to the charmeleon, or what she was increasingly thinking of as something else with the appearance of a charmeleon – with increased pure terror festering in her eyes. What was this... this predator...

"What... what are you?" she asked, being hit by wave after wave of nausea as she did so. Fighting this illusion made her feel as though her head was about to explode. She let out a yowl as another, increasingly painful, impenetrable wall of unpleasantness hit her.

At the agonized yowl, everything shifted again. It was as though something had withdrawn from her head, the nausea and pain abated. The burden she had been fighting lifted.

When she stumbled to her feet, she observed that the room looked the same as it had initially, but where the charmeleon had been a completely different pokémon sat. It was covered in short, bristly, dark fur with red tips here and there, and had milky, apologetic, blue eyes. Some part of her mental archives associated a species with the pokémon: zorua. He looked young, embarrassed, and overwhelmingly harmless in contrast with the dread the charmeleon had evoked within her.

"I'm sorry," the zorua said in a small voice, "I'm just more confident when people see me as something..." he gestured in the air with a forepaw, "greater, I suppose."

Ashen continued to stare at him. The imposter looked uncomfortable.

"My name is Flo, and I do believe you. Sorry about the whole room thing, it's just you have some kind of psychic ability, in some capacity. That's why you could fight the illusion. I wouldn't have tried it if I'd known..."

Once more she thought about just how sheepish Flo looked. Then she gathered her senses.

"How could you..." she made a feeble attempt at getting angry, but when faced with this pathetic and young pokémon she simply could not gather the strength. Her words trailed off, empty.

"I'm really sorry!" he exclaimed, "I just wanted to help you, it just didn't all go to plan." There was a note of reproach at the word 'help'. She felt slightly guilty for prejudging him as malicious and treating him as such.

"It's okay," she tried, awkward, "I'd like to thank you for helping me."

They looked at each other again for a few minutes. Then the vulpix decided this was enough, and now was the time to leave.

"Sorry for the, uh, intrusion," she murmured, unsure of her words, "I think I should go now."

"NO!" the zorua exclaimed, surprisingly loudly with a confidence she thought he had lacked, "I... please don't go. If it's true and you don't know where you're from or what to do... could we travel together? It's just I've always lived here, on my own, and I get terribly bored. If you need me, we could go out together, travel around."

His face, so naive, looked absurdly hopeful. At first she looked down on him, for deceiving her then asking her for help, before a peculiar type of hope rose up within her too. Here was someone whom admittedly she did not know, however he knew far more about this world, more of what mattered anyway, than her. Together they could travel, and the more land they covered the more possible it would be that she could discover more about the Time Gear or about her own past.

Here, without memories, she was truly alone in an alien world. But with a guide, one with such impressive abilities (even if they did mostly encompass deception), she could perhaps find out who she had been and if she wanted to be them again.

"I'd like that."

A day later and they were more familiar with each other, and for Ashen, with herself. It had taken far too long in the vulpix's opinion to pack away all of the "essentials" which they might need on their journey. Whilst there were admittedly useful items like oran berries among these, there were also some dull blue orbs which appeared to be mostly decorative and some scarves which, whilst looking warm, did not appear to serve any other purpose. Finally, there were some apples, which they also breakfasted on before packing the rest away.

Eventually they stood, overburdened, at the gateway of the house.

"Uh, do you know what lies in each direction?" Ashen asked.

"There's a forest, or was anyway, over there. I think the other side's all coast, as far as I've explored anyway."

"So we're going through the remains of the forest?" the idea was abhorrent to the vulpix. She had been planning to pretend the entire thing had never happened, being reminded of her mistake was the worst thing in her mind.

"I don't really see any other way," when he looked over at her and saw an expression of distress he interpreted as mild discomfort he added, "at least it's not a mystery dungeon."

"Mystery dungeon?"

"Oh, you don't know about those. Well, they're kinda like mazes, only they change every time you go in. They're also filled with feral pokémon, and sometimes you can find useful items. Some items only work inside dungeons, too."

"What are these feral pokémon?"

"Well, they're like us, really, only they've lost part of their… well minds. They attack on sight and you can't reason with them. I think originally there were just a few which had been traumatized by time stopping that they reverted to their base instincts, but they've bred. I think they're more of them than civilized pokémon now, although they generally live in mystery dungeons and wild areas. That's why the main victims of this fire were feral pokémon. I'm sure the rattata that bit your leg was feral."

"Time stopping?" Ashen felt increasingly foolish.

"It's only been here and there, but it's been spreading. Some people think it's linked to the Time Gears, but they're all in place."

"So no one knows why time has been stopping?"

"Yeah. There could be any cause, or it could just be natural fluctuation. I'm no expert," he added at the end, accidentally reasserting his lack of knowledge on the subject and nervous attitude.

The vulpix dwelt on that. It sounded like a serious problem, albeit one which was not being dealt with. Her link with the Time Gear… no, she could not jump to conclusions. She had plenty of time in which to discover where she was from and who she was. Indeed, she was beginning to doubt she had ever been a human at all. It just seemed so… improbable.

Their journey through the forest was hellish. The floor was thick with ash and the air seemed unnaturally clear considering the plague of fog it had been infected with two days past. She left delicate footprints in the rubble of the trees, stepping on the remains of something, although whether tree or pokémon she could not tell.

Some of the larger, sacred trees had survived some of the fire. They had charred exteriors and soot-blackened raised branches. In one of them she could see an abandoned nest, eggs long gone cold and thus dead still lying inside, unnaturally untouched by opportunist scavengers. She felt ill. Ahead there were also some of the larger pokémon which had not become fully incinerated by the fire, they lay lifeless and disfigured, mercifully their faces were obscured with blackness rather than being burned.

They passed by the Time Gear without a pause. It was untouched by the fire. She could see now that it was held aloft in a glowing grid of some description, and it seemed very exposed against the flattened landscape. That strange familiar feeling almost stirred within her again, but it was smothered by grief and repulsion when she saw the pile of remains that had once been the rattata which had caused her leg wound. She turned away, although because it was raised it stood out, spire-like, even when they had travelled far away.

The smell of sulphur choking the air was abhorrent to her. The entire place disgusted her, the atmosphere resting like grief within her chest. Every time she passed a particularly large pile of ash guilt surged through her as she considered what it could have been. The fire fox had been so new to this world… and yet she had still managed to unwittingly unleash more despair than most did in a lifetime.

This burdened her, and as the walk continued she relentlessly and bitterly decided to carry it within her. She could never overcome what she had done, never leave it behind her or consider herself blameless. The forest fire was something that would smoulder within her, eternally, as a reminder and a warning. She would try to do good deeds from now on, and remember the destructive power of this fire within her.

She was Ashen. The ashes of this fire, the remains of the victims, she carried within her now. No one should be forgotten, and she refused to forget her victims.

Halfway through the day they stopped for lunch, sitting on a charred log. Flo handed her an apple with practiced ease despite his paws, before munching on his own. The vulpix followed suit.

"You know, before now I could never go too far into this forest. It was always foggy and scary, filled with pokémon ready to attack me. But now… I almost feel as though it's been purged. It's safe somehow, now." Flo still sounded overwhelmingly young, but there was a note of confidence creeping into his voice. Ashen hoped she had helped to create it.

"I feel a sense of loss. That so much could disappear in one moment, burn out into this," she sifted her paw through some powdery ashes, "I want to leave this place."

"I can understand that," once again he sounded apologetic, "let's continue, we're not far from the meadows now."

As they continued to trek through the barren landscape Ashen felt more and more doubt cast upon Flo's estimate of the scale of the fire. It seemed to range for many kilometres, with thousands of victims. His estimate had been wrong, or maybe he had been comforting her. Still, even with his kindness, she could not trust him to explain how she had caused this desolation. It was better that he never found out.

Meadows sent a jolt of apprehension through her chest. What if this bleak, grey landscape just went on? Meadows were flammable… and beyond that who knew what lay. She harboured an intense, absurd, suspicion that she had destroyed the entire world in one misplaced fireball. It ate at her, causing her to despair.

Eventually she could see green fields in the distance. The damage grew less around her, trees still upright, pokémon with bodies unmercifully visible. The lime surface grew ever-closer.

"It's a town," Flo explained, pointing to a map, "It's called Treasure Town, and if we go far enough this way we should reach it. It's on the other side of the coast, we're on a sticky-out thing."

The map was old, it depicted a peninsular with urban areas marked off and forest. The area of forest looked smaller than it had seemed on the walk, but still surely hundreds must have died.

"What will we do in this town?" Ashen asked.

Flo looked despairing.

Ashen had been so occupied with her thoughts that she had not realized that they had no goal. Their partnership was one of necessity, however much Flo wished it to be otherwise. He seemed afraid that they were so purposeless, afraid of living alone in that house.

It suddenly occurred to the vulpix that she had been extraordinarily self-centred. She had taken and taken from this young pokémon without giving anything back, then lead him away from his sanctuary on a journey which offered them no gain. Here she was, completely disregarding him in her plan, and ignoring the emotional attachment he had.

Then his age hit her again. Repeatedly she had observed how young he was, but never had it occurred to her to question why he would be living alone. She hardly knew anything about how he came to be there.

This depersonalization she inflicted upon everybody seemed familiar. It was as though she was used to using people before they used her.

"Does it matter what we'll do?" she said, cheerfully, "As long as we can find adventure!"

That statement would have seemed hollow to her, but to him it gave hope.


	3. Smoulder

**CHAPTER 3: Smoulder**

It was their third day of travelling when they found themselves inside a maze. As soon as they had stepped inside the cavern, the entire landscape changed dramatically. The entrance behind her had sealed off, and strange, unnatural corridors stretched ahead of them.

"Is this a mystery dungeon?" Ashen wondered out loud.

"Yes," Flo replied, looking around anxiously, "I hope we can defeat any pokémon which attack us, maybe we won't run into any, if we're lucky." He checked their provisions compulsively.

Whilst these stone corridors didn't look flammable the vulpix was still reluctant to use her fire after the destruction it had caused. Besides, this looked like it would house more rock-types than anything else, which fire was ineffective at. But if it came down to protecting Flo…

She felt obligated to say that she had no experience battling. If it came down to it she could use her claws and fangs, but she had no idea how to control her fire or where to strike.

"I've never really fought before." Once again she found herself causing an expression of pronounced disbelief in her partner. The need to elaborate was strong. "I've got no memories of how to, uh well, _do_ anything."

"What about your fire?" He looked increasingly concerned.

"I don't know how to make it work."

"Well, there's not much I can tell you. All I know about fire-types is that their power is linked strongly to their emotions, so maybe if you make yourself feel angry when you see something we need to fight and roared it would come out."

She mulled over his information. Whenever she had felt particularly emotional it was true that she could sense the fire in her belly, and the one occasion on which it had come out had been triggered by a strong emotion: fear. The advice was all she had to go on, she would use it if need be. There wasn't any rational reason to worry, there was nothing she could do, but she was tense nonetheless.

Their walk down the corridors quickly went from apprehensive to boring. The stone walls were the same everywhere, there were no pokémon, and everywhere they turned seemed to have a dead end. They went up a few staircases, although they were more like tiles which when stepped on caused the floor to morph shape. She wasn't sure if they were descending or ascending, or even if they were moving at all. Maybe they were just going around in circles.

They stopped to rest next to the sixth tile they had come across. Both had considerably growling stomachs, so they had an apple each. The food supply was running worryingly low, with only four apples left.

"It's unnatural," Flo commented as he munched, "I've only strayed around the edges of a few mystery dungeons, but they were all filled with feral pokémon. There are so few, it's weird."

"Do you think something could be wrong here?"

"Something must be. Something's kept everything away, or killed them all off. Even the ferals, and they seem to survive everywhere."

After that when they continued on their way they were on edge. Unease crept insidiously into their minds, how many floors had they gone through now? They had lost count, and still the dungeon stretched onwards. They were healthy, but nervous and inexperienced, and certain in the knowledge that whatever lay within would be stronger than them.

When they reached the fourth dead end on that floor Flo lay down with a dejected sigh.

"It's hopeless," he mourned, "We'll never get out. There must be something here, at the end, and the thought makes me not want to get there even if we could."

"If only we knew," Ashen agreed, "if only we could somehow _see_…"

Flo bolted upright, "That's it! I have an item in here, it's very rare." The vulpix thought he would go on to explain how he had obtained it, but he just continued, "It's called a pair of 'x-ray specs'. They allow you to see through walls, but not to find the stair tile. With these we can find out what we're not seeing!"

Ashen nodded in anticipation. The zorua got them out of the bag, placing it on the floor.

"Now I just need to take off this scarf, can't wear two items at once…"

As the scarf slipped from his neck a pokémon jumped out from the walls and hit him before he could slip the specs on. Flo let out a yelp and fell sideways.

All at once they were surrounded by shifting, misty, and inexact pokémon. Ghost types: they had been hiding in the walls… so why hadn't they attacked before..? There was no time to question. Ashen didn't need to think to make herself feel scared, she let go a massive bellow of fire in the direction of some of the ghastly.

Although it had been powerful it had been uncontrolled and therefore only singed a few ghastly. The vulpix tried to ready herself for another shot, but with horror realized that in her inexperience she had channelled all of her energy into that one shot. The ghost pokémon floated nearer, seeming to mock them with their lolling tongues.

Then they began to laugh, surrounding Flo but not attacking him. Their tongues, slabs of raw meat, contrasting drastically with their ethereal bodies, wagged up and down with malicious humour. Ashen tried to cover her ears, to block out the destructive and rampant sound, but instead it suffocated her, mixing with the scent of their rotting-flesh breath. She could no longer think clearly whilst assaulted by this wave of stimuli.

What was odd was that they ignored her, centring on Flo. This was what saved them. Ashen desperately tried to scratch a few, but her claws just went through them, ineffective.

"FLO!" She screamed to be heard over the roaring laughter, "WHAT CAN I DO?"

"SCARF!" He yelled back.

He could only mean the scarf he had slipped off in order to try the x-ray specs on. But how would that help him..? Regardless, she realized she had to trust him. It was logical. He knew more than her about the scarves and their effects. She jumped through the ghost pokémon (it felt like walking through a graveyard mist) and grabbed the scarf in her mouth.

She dragged it into him, and somehow in the desperate tangle of fumbling fabric it slipped over his head and hung, loosely. He breathed a sigh of relief and, straight away, the ghastly let up a howl of surprise and began to look around for him. Ashen sat back, aghast. Everything was so confusing, nothing made sense. How could they appear and disappear at the touch of a scarf?

One by one the ghastly floated down the corridors, loudly mourning the loss of their prey with odd, alien cries. The noises scared Ashen, she remained frozen, the end of the scarf still hanging in her mouth. A few dissipated on the spot, others morphed back into the walls. Before long, they were alone again. Only then did the vulpix begin to stretch her limbs, they felt as though they had been made into stone. Her muscles had been to tense, the threat of death too present.

Flo looked weak still, struggling for breath. For a while she just watched him, before it occurred to her that she should help him. As soon as the thought crossed her mind she wondered heavily how she could ever have thought otherwise, and suddenly she felt a tender rush of affection towards the young zorua. She had overridden an idea so written onto her subconscious, a part of her brain which hadn't been wiped clean, that it had become almost instinctive. The idea that she should emotionally distance herself from the injured, because they would die.

But there was no time to ponder over her emotionally-cold past now. She scrabbled through the treasure bag and carried Flo an oran berry. He could barely lift his head to munch it, but he just about managed. After taking it the bruises under his fur must have faded, because he suddenly seemed more aware, alert, and above all his rise to his feet wasn't pained.

"What happened?" Ashen asked, for the fact that the events had escaped her so still unnerved her.

"This scarf is an invisify scarf," he said, tugging at the silvery, sleek fabric around his neck, "it turns you invisible. You have one too, I asked you to wear it on the way over here."

"Why didn't you tell me what they did?" The fox's eyes were blazing.

"I'm sorry! It's just that although these scarves are rare, most people would recognize them. I just didn't think… I didn't _remember_ that you wouldn't know. I've never seen ghost pokémon hide in walls before, and I didn't think of it. I'm sorry, I should have known."

She wavered here, the fire dying in her eyes as his remorse dampened it. It occurred to her that she had made him feel bad for something outside of her control, but something else preyed more heavily on her mind than this child's sporadic feelings. Despite this, a twinge of guilt flowed through her, although it was small and easily ignored. There was one overriding question still haunting her, and she was determined to ask it before this chance died away. It was about an irregularity.

"You lived on your own before I met you." It was a statement, not a question. "So where did you get all of these rare items from?" She could have added that he was too young to have gotten them legitimately, but it seemed mean.

"I… I found them." This was said evasively. Flo avoided her eyes.

"No way you did. You said yourself you've only been around the edges of a few mystery dungeons, and these would surely be in the centre of extremely tough ones. And even then, I doubt they would be common."

"I don't want to t-talk about it." The zorua was tearful. He sunk down slightly, shrinking away from her.

His avoidance built up her anger again. His pathetic nature irritated her instead of pacifying her. A snarl grew in the back of her throat, although she swallowed it, and fire began intensifying in her chest. Ashen hoped she could control it, for a while she just focussed on this, supressing her anger into boiling, smouldering resentment which was of no physical danger to Flo.

"Tell me," she snapped, "Unless you're ashamed of it." The last part was a taunt, designed to elicit a response.

"Ashen…"

"Tell me."

"I… I…"

"TELL ME!"

The young zorua fled down the corridors, weeping profusely. Luckily the ghastly seemed to ignore this sound, as they had all others; perhaps they attributed it to each other. As she watched his tail, between his legs, move away from her everything angry within her was extinguished. She sat back, exhausted and terribly guilty.

She was emotionally retarded, that was the only explanation. The only way she could deal with anyone was through carefully thinking about what she needed to say. However she wasn't patient, before long she grew tired of her farce of consideration and said something horrible. She chased after him, although his head start had meant he was lost. She began to search up and down the corridors, thinking as she moved.

It was clear that in her previous life she had eked out a miserable, lonely existence. Every time she lost patience with Flo it was as though her emotional ties with him had been severed, and although they were reformed before long it wasn't enough. Making attachments and dealing with people seemed to be something she utterly failed at. What kind of life had it been before? What place where no one could be trusted, and emotional attachment was unviable?

It couldn't be her. She wouldn't believe that. If she was a psychopath she would feel no need to change the way she treated, bonded with pokémon. Her way of life had trained this hardness into her. It could be overcome. Ashen would force herself to care for Flo. She would _force_ herself to serve her supressed sense of social responsibility and become a _better_ vulpix.

As the last of her emotions faded into her resting state of nothingness, with only determination and some supressed guilt remaining, she suddenly felt something nagging at the corner of her mind. It was like a shadow in her peripheral vision, only inside her mind somehow. It seemed to be to the left. She followed it, turning towards it, and came upon a collapsed Flo in the centre of a room.

"Flo…" her eyes filled with tears, although the overwhelming sense of mourning felt _separate_ from herself, "I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me. I just… I can't remember, and I seem to just be unable to… never mind. Just thank you, thank you so much for being my guide…"

The sense of grief turned dark, terrible. She closed her eyes against its strength, her spirit wavering.

"No." Suddenly Flo stood, firm, the trails of tears still on his cheeks. "That is not enough."

Wordlessly, he turned around and stepped onto the stair tile, alone. She looked after him helplessly, and her mostly inaccessible memory banks offered up a piece of information she would rather remained forgotten: once separated in a mystery dungeon they would go on different paths. She would only see him at the end, if they made it that far.

And he had the apples.

The dungeon was winding, annoyingly long and repetitive. The scarf felt stifling against her neck and she compulsively kept checking to see it was still there. It was her one lifeline in this place, with the ghosts around she could not trust the evidence of her eyes. She felt hunger gnawing at her belly, although she was not sure if it was real or just her persistent paranoia.

Alone, the monotony intensified. Grey wall of rock after grey wall of rock. The slabs were not cracked but seamless, and she found herself wandering around aimless and absent, in circles again and again. Whilst before she had lost track of floors, now there was no sense of time or place. Everything was grey, smooth and cold. She shivered and felt another twang of possibly imagined hunger in her stomach.

After a while it felt like she had been within for days, and scaled hundreds of floors. She collapsed and slept, and when she awoke was even more confused than before. She could have slept for eight hours or for five minutes, there was no way of telling. Within the maze everything was constant. Only she was variable, fleshed, an invader to this place of quiet solace and ghosts.

So when she stepped on the stairs tile and found herself outside the tension eased. The stress holding her exhausted muscles together caved, and she collapsed. The hunger in her belly was no longer in any sense fictional, but there was nothing here to eat. She was too tired to look for food around her, or even to see where she was, so she collapsed.

She wouldn't accept her death. This was just a brief passing-out, then she would awaken and fight in the sunlight. Fight for food, fight until she found Flo. This would not be the end.

But as her eyelids fluttered closed she knew within herself that without aid she would not awaken. Panic rose within her, but then her consciousness shut down.


	4. Smoke

**Chapter 4: Smoke**

She awoke in pain, gasping. Her belly felt like a black hole of pain, draining feeling from the rest of her body which currently felt more like a corpse. Her eyes had not been closed for more than a few seconds.

"Eat it!" Flo shouted, standing over her, "eat it, damn you!"

She did her best to gnaw at the apple, but her jaw was too weak. The zorua looked at her with a mixture of guilt and fear, before biting off a piece of the apple himself. She swallowed it with difficulty. Life flowed back into her tired body, the pain in her stomach ceased almost instantly, it was as though she was reborn. Only the ache in her limbs remained, a reminder of her long ascent through the dungeon.

After that she could eat the rest on her own, which she proceeded to do, all the while looking at Flo guiltily.

"Thanks," she smiled at the zorua, sheepishly, "please can we travel together again? I won't push you like that again-" she was about to justify herself, but quickly halted, realizing there wasn't really any justification. What she had said was a mistake. For some reason she found that thought hard.

"Yes. I think I should explain about before, though. I shouldn't have been so upset, it's just you see… really fresh in my mind.

"I used to live in the forest with my father. He was a zoroark, and a famous explorer. He would often go out on adventures and leave me by myself, but he would always come back and there would always be enough food. He stored those scarves and other things in the house. Sometimes he would train me, although we never got very far with that, which is why my illusions aren't that developed.

"In the evenings, when he was home, he would tell me beautiful stories. Sometimes they were real, sometimes they weren't, but I was always riveted. I learned about his life as an explorer, about what it was like fighting pokémon, scavenging for food, living hand-to-mouth. I learned about the amazing sights he'd seen, I learned many things I would need to know to become like him. But I didn't learn enough." Flo's eyes began to fill with tears as he continued, pained,

"One day he went off to explore somewhere. He never specified where he went in case I followed him, and this time was no exception. He didn't come back, and after two months of waiting I still hadn't grown resigned to this. I began to find my own food, with difficulty. I had lived like that for a year before you arrived.

"Something about meeting you, maybe the responsibility of looking after someone else, made me realize that I had to accept that it just wouldn't happen. He was never coming back. Maybe it had been ghost pokémon… maybe hunger… maybe his luck just finally ran out, but he was gone. Then I left with you. I thought that if I travelled, kept an eye out, maybe I would find out what happened to him. Not him, I know that will never happen, but if I could just find out how he disappeared and where then I could have my peace."

Ashen listened to him, painfully aware that she should have noticed these feelings within him earlier. Hopefully being attentive now could make up for her previous failure to him.

"That must have been hard." The sentence seemed inadequate to her, but hopefully it made it seem like she had understood how he was feeling and empathized. She couldn't make up for a lifetime of emotional isolation, she couldn't suddenly feel empathy after one epiphany, but she could try to feign it to help Flo.

It worked, for although he was still sad, _felt_ sad (somehow she could feel it), he changed the subject. He was grieving for his father, but that did not have to be constant and all-consuming.

"How did you find me so quickly in that dungeon?"

That was an unexpected question. She briefly imagined herself refusing to answer and Flo rising into a rage like she had, although that seemed so ludicrous, unlike the zorua, and farcical that she almost laughed.

"I felt a presence, within, somehow…" she struggled to find the words, "it was like I could _feel_ your emotions, locate them just about. I followed it."

"Oh, that's interesting," Flo scrutinized Ashen, "My father said he knew a ninetails once," her inner archive told her that elegant white kitsune would be what she could evolve into. She registered it with shock, she hadn't thought about evolving, but supressed it so she could listen to the zorua. "He could do some psychic attacks. We often talked about psychic powers, the two of us. I suppose you could say it was his area.

"Many pokémon are classed as 'psychic', and these have potent psychic powers within their control. However many others can harness certain powers exclusive to the type, for example dazing opponents. I can alter perception so pokémon see what isn't there, that is a type of psychic power. My father had experimented with pushing this, he could alter even thoughts to a certain extent. He could make pokémon think he wasn't there, or that they were somewhere else altogether.

"Once he said he made a feral perceive itself in a place where it would be dead. It died. But anyway, my point is that psychic powers are possessed by almost all types of pokémon, and if trained can be expanded on. I think the one the ninetails had was something to magnify the senses, extrasensory. It could be used to see further, hear better. Maybe, somehow, you're getting a premature version of this. At any rate, you're an empath. You can sense the emotions of others. It's also why you broke my illusions when we first met."

An empath. Those said to be so caring that they felt others' emotions. Ironic.

"I don't think I'm an empath, " Ashen struggled to express herself again, "I can't normally feel what others feel. It was just that one time."

"Maybe it's triggered by effort," Flo pondered, "maybe you were _trying_ to feel how I was feeling so you could. I bet that if you trained hard enough you'd be able to sense pokémon around you, even ferals. That would be like wearing x-ray specs without even having to put them on! Maybe you're just tuned to my feelings because I'm the only sentient you've been around so far."

It did sound convenient. Maybe she could work on it by trying to think about others more often and, above all, forgo her frequent tussles with the inner turmoil in the hollow where her memory had once been. Fill it up with compassion and concern, for the thing was that Flo had brought something out in her. He hadn't made her care about other pokémon, but he had made her _want_ to care for others. Surely that was the first step.

Since their conversation had concluded, Ashen looked around herself. The landscape was unremarkable, almost the same as from where they had entered. Plains, a few trees, nothing of note.

"Shall we set off?" Ashen asked, attempting to be cheerful, although to herself she sounded defeated and hollow still. Her deep residual feeling of failure could not be swept away that easily. She could try to change herself, but change does not happen instantaneously.

"Yes!"

They wove down through the thick prairie grass. The dungeon had been forty floors of monotonous hell, so the outside was a complete relief. There were no ferals around, which meant it was safe to place the scarves back in the treasure bag, which they did since it was warm out here. The scarves were not needed, and they couldn't risk losing them if they became snagged on the thorny undergrowth. It was almost pleasant, their stroll to the town, it almost lifted Ashen's spirits.

"Wow! I've never seen so many dwellings so close together before!" Flo exclaimed.

Both were unprepared for the busyness of the town, although they took it in different ways. The zorua was excited, the vulpix intimidated. There were many clustered houses in this place, as well as a town square with pokémon chatting in it. After so much isolation it was overwhelming, almost intrusive into their inner peace. A sign read, 'Treasure Town'.

It was just so colourful. After grey walls and brown prairie, this garish and bright paint was blinding. The sunlight was exaggeratedly harsh on the pale paved paths. Even some of the pokémon seemed bright, like the pair of kecleon. It was all just so unnatural after all of the landscapes they had seen so far, which had been untouched by anything but nature.

"Hey," Flo asked one of the kecleon (the purple one), "have you seen a zoroark pass through here? Maybe about a year ago."

Ashen fell back, silently watching the kecleon's reaction. His mouth opened, first seemingly in shock, but it quickly turned to accusation. He looked with horror on Flo, recoiling from him. The entire spectacle was inexplicable. So many things in this world were confusing to her, so little made sense. Why would a complete stranger stand there, gaping in horror, at such a young pokémon? Then the vulpix started to look around and found all of the other pokémon in a similar state, shocked by Flo simply standing there.

Then the shouting started.

"Arsonist!" A bellow came from the Kecleon, "Someone fetch Officer Magnezone, quickly!"

Ashen flinched, but he was definitely speaking to Flo. But what could Flo have done..? He was just a child who had been living alone in the forest.

"How terrible! Just like on the posters! Right here in the town square!" An ursuring exclaimed in gleeful horror.

Similar words continued to assault the poor, sensitive zorua. He crouched down, cowering before the weight of their accusations. Suddenly Ashen felt the force of his shame and fear hit her. He had been correct; since she had been in his company for the past few days she had tuned onto his emotional wavelength, so it swallowed her. She was drowning in his terror.

"SHUT UP!" She screamed, but it was lost in the townspeople's panic and fear of Flo, "HE'S INNOCENT! HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU!"

But she was ignored. Then, suddenly, she was pushed back by the crowd. She could not fight it without bellowing fire, and yet that would only make the situation worse. She fought the currents in this ocean of pokémon, but to no avail. Then the seas parted and a cold, steel pokémon burst through. In an inhuman voice it began to speak,

"BZZT! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR ARSON! DO NOT RESIST ARREST OR FORCE MAY HAVE TO BE DEPLOYED. BZZT!"

"There's been some mistake…" Flo stammered.

"NO MISTAKE. BZZT! YOU ARE FLORAR THE ZORUA: IDENTIFIED! CAUSE OF THE FIRE IN EASTERN FOREST. YOUR GUILT IS PRE-DETERMINED. YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO TREESHROUD DETENTION CENTRE WHERE YOU WILL FACE THE FULL PENALTY FOR YOUR CHARGES. BZZT!" The Magnezone turned to face the spectators, who were bound by morbid interest,

"REST ASSURED CITIZENS THAT THE CRIMINAL IS UNDER CONTROL. MAGNEZONE ARE HERE TO ENSURE JUSTICE!"

Ashen fought the crowd, but her voice had deserted her. She did not know how to control anything, fire brimmed within her and to speak was to free it. At the same time the raging emotions consuming Flo ate through her, cutting her off from her own mind and rational thought. The fight left her, she became limp before seeing terrified Flo walk away, escorted by those harsh metal pokémon. There was nothing she could do as he disappeared from sight but repeat all she could remember: Treeshroud Detention Centre. Treeshroud Detention Centre. Treeshroud Detention Centre.

By the time she could move again she already missed him intensely. Maybe she had not fully appreciated him before because he had been the only sentient pokémon, but now she was surrounded by others they just disgusted her. Self-satisfied, bloodthirsty… no part of her realized she might be prejudging them as she first judged Flo, back when he appeared to be a charmeleon. She clung to her assumptions like a lifeline, senselessly going against the mob, scared that if she stopped to consider she might somehow become like _them_. She saw no possibility of help in any of them, nothing to be achieved by asking them.

Asking them would have helped her. Asking them would have resulted in some slight hoop jumping, then freedom for them both. It would have saved everyone trouble. However the idea did not cross her mind.

It took her a short time to realize that she was getting odd looks from everyone. Not only was she standing, oddly, statue-like, in the centre of the path, but also vulpix seemed to be uncommon in these parts. She was getting too much attention. Ashen was unsure whether that was a good or bad thing, but she decided to keep a low profile for now. Slowly, she pretended to shake herself out of a daydream and walked down the road.

She kept going, ignoring their pointed, interrogative glances, until she reached a cliff. Then she sat there, watching the sea. The relentless waves, accompanied by the fierce winds and height, made a deep, primal fear shake through her. It was an unfamiliar feeling that was not from her previous life. No, it was completely new, raw, a product of this body. A phobia of water: an abysmal sense of dread.

Quite suddenly a pokémon dug through the ground next to her. A diglett, she realized, once she had seen him properly. He looked around, muttering to himself. This was a chance for information she could not afford to pass up. This pokémon looked harmless and forgetful, she could get some quick information and leave.

"Hello," she began. The diglett jumped, but then looked at her earnestly. "Do you know where I might find Treeshroud Detention Centre?" It was a direct approach, but she didn't have the patience or energy to lie.

"Hi…" his voice trailed off in suspicion. She supposed the first thing strangers asked for directions to wasn't normally the prison. It couldn't be avoided. "It's in Treeshroud Forest… I could show you on a map, if you have one. But why do you want to know? Normally pokémon don't go there."

"Well…" she briefly reconsidered lying, but quickly realized she would never be able to come up with anything convincing in the time she had before it started to seem suspicious, "I want to see a friend. I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"Hmm…" the diglett narrowed his eyes. Being a friend of a 'criminal' probably didn't give her the best character reference.

She needed to show him the map before he burrowed away. Wait… didn't Flo have the treasure bag? That contained the map and everything within it. She sunk down, hopelessly.

"I don't have any money, or a map, but please could you point me in the rough direction." The diglett looked unconvinced. "It's a matter of life or death."

"Well… if it's that important."

He began to burrow underground, but close enough to the surface that she could see where he was going and follow him. He led her through the town once more to some crossroads. A wooden billboard with a faded, cracked, map on it dominated the area. It showed this area and the surrounding dungeons, as well as the forest they had come from.

That sent her memory reeling. The police officer had said that Flo was being arrested for arson. Suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. It was logical, and that was the worst part. There were no fire-types around the forest where she had been spurned, which was labelled with the unimaginative but tell-tale name of "Eastern Forest". Flo had access to all of those explorer materials from his father, surely some of them must have been able to create fire. That was their reasoning.

He was getting punished for her crime, her original sin.

They did not know she had been in the area, since she was not recorded in their database. She was new, unregistered. She did not factor into their mechanical logic. Flo was the only one who could have possibly done it, been in the place, used the tools, and he was also the only one alive to pay for the destruction.

It cut through Ashen. All of the supressed grief and guilt came rushing back, but with them: a resolve. She would find her redemption this way. She would stop Flo from suffering in her place. Maybe that was just doing the bare minimum, stopping any further damage, but it was all the atonement she could get. The vulpix refused to take responsibility when her judges would be impartial to the point of being emotionless. Her entire theoretical defense would be based on her overwhelming confusion over waking up in a different place. Who would believe she used to be a human? Besides, hadn't Officer Magnezone said that 'YOUR GUILT IS PRE-DETERMINED'? What kind of pokémon…

When she awoke out of her deep, dreamy thoughts, Diglett was gone. She had probably not heard him as she had stared, transfixed, on the board. She stepped closed to look for Treeshroud Forest. As her paw brushed the map she suddenly felt dizzy.

_Wha- what was happening?_

Everything plunged into darkness. She saw an indistinct outline taking something… something blue and _familiar… _from the forest. It was imperative to her that something be done, but she did not know what. Then this faded and left her drained. She stumbled backwards slightly, gasping for air. A hallucination? Maybe it was brought on by stress, she would deal with it later if there proved to be a need, which she doubted. It was unlikely to reoccur.

Then she saw it on the map: Treeshroud Forest. A mystery dungeon which she would have to explore, alone, with little experience fighting. And no provisions.

Suddenly she wished for Flo more strongly than ever.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: What is proof-reading. Sorry for any mistakes :/**


	5. Rekindle

**Chapter 5: Rekindle**

The wind was quiet in the trees, secretive and whispering. It reminded Ashen painfully of Eastern Forest, and she felt a ghost of the confusion and terror she had felt upon her initial awakening pass through her. She saw a place where the undergrowth grew so thick it was like a wall. Two trees were bent over to form an archway at a break in this, and beneath it lay a gaping entrance. She crept slowly closer, trying to see inside, but by the time the vulpix could see a corridor stretching ahead she was inside and there was no going back.

She had no equipment or treasure bag, so she was already at a distinct disadvantage. This dungeon was also completely unlike the previous one. She was glad to see that there were no ghosts, but despite being a forest the walls were as impenetrable as the stone. In some places there was thick, solid, tangled grass, in others trees with trunks grown together so tightly she could not slip between. Occasionally there were flowers poking out around the edge, small blue ones with no medicinal use the fox knew of.

In only the second clearing she came across a feral pokémon. It was a bellsprout, something within her stirred to tell her, and therefore weak to fire. It was quite terrifying in the way it lumbered over to her, having to lurch forward constantly, zombie-like, in order to keep its balance. Its eyes were black and hollow with no illusion of depth. It made no noise but a slight whining and its footfalls were heavy. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Ashen prepared herself, anxious. She still hadn't actually fought before, not properly. Could she run..? And then it was too late, she had hesitated, so its vines had whipped her across the chest. She fell back with a small yip of pain, but stood up again quickly, barely weakened. The next part was hard, she had to breathe fire on it, but not use up all of her power in one shot.

She took a deep breath in and growled. Nothing came out. The bellsprout hit here again, and, whirring, readied itself to hit her again. She only had a few seconds before the next strike. She felt fear within her, for although the strike had not hurt her as much as before (she had kept her footing), the idea of not rescuing Flo was terrifying. With this fear in mind she breathed again, allowing a small flicker of flame to singe the bellsprout.

To her utter shock the bellsprout wailed and backed off. The flames ate at it, it was burning alive. The vulpix had not foreseen this… wasn't she supposed to vow never to kill another being again? But how else could she deal with these ferals?

The bellsprout gave a last moan and collapsed against the vine walls, unconscious. Flames licked their way up its body before slowly dying out, leaving it charred and unresponsive. Ashen looked around the room, readying herself to have to do it again. She was confused, but the fear she had tried to summon only temporarily to help her summon her fire had consumed her moral conscience. She was scared: there was no time for considering whether it was right or not to kill others.

She examined the vines around the bellsprout. Although she had not thought of it at the time, he was in a forest of sorts. It was possible that it would also burn. However the vines around the remains were untouched by the fire. Mystery dungeons didn't catch alight; she stored this fact in her mental archive.

There was an oran berry in the corner of the clearing. She picked it up, sticking her claws into it. This way she could carry one item, without a treasure bag this was it. She turned around one last time, surveying the room, when suddenly the fear petered out. She felt so bad about the bellsprout she went over to the corpse to pay her last respects.

It was still breathing, she recoiled in horror. But maybe there was a chance to undo this… she lifted the oran berry to the remains of its lips and sat back. It was curious, watching the bellsprout regenerate. Leaves bloomed, dead ones fell away, skin healed over. Before long the eyes fluttered open and it stood before her, the same as always.

_Wow, _she thought, _I actually undid it. Maybe if I can undo this it's possible to move past my other mis-_

Ashen's thoughts were brutally interrupted with a surprise strike of vines. The reborn bellsprout had fully awoken and continued to assault her. She lowered her head to endure the hit, and shouted,

"I saved you!"

The strikes continued. The vines wrapped around her and began to squeeze, she was starting to feel weak, almost faint. She was about to fall unconscious… she had to strike back…

"But I revived you…" she whispered as the life was squeezed out of her.

She tried to rally flames, but felt an inherent powerlessness instead. There was nothing she could do. Nothing would save Flo in the grip of this pokémon whose life she had just saved. Defeated, then brought back.

All she could think as she fell unconscious was that she was a complete idiot.

"ARE YOU AWAKE?" A mechanical and nightmarish voice interrogated her, gratingly bringing her to full consciousness. "YOUR BATTLE WAS COMPROMISED. BZZZT! I FOUND YOU UNCONSCIOUS AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST. EAT THIS TO REGAIN YOUR STRENGTH."

Ashen recoiled from the figure which had taken Flo away. It was indicating to some oran berries. She ignored them and it and looked around.

The room was grim but functional. A large map covered the wall depicting an enlarged view of Treeshroud Forest. She found, to her surprise, that in fact the way she had been going was towards another Time Gear. There was no need to go through a dungeon to get to the detention centre. She still felt even more stupid, so terribly, terribly stupid.

There was also a desk and a few doors, some seemed to lead to conference rooms, others were closed and firmly bolted. She wondered about where Flo was. Unless…

"EAT THE BERRIES. IT IS NORMAL TO FEEL DISORIENTED. BZZT!"

The magnezone's eyes were so intimidating and clinical that she lost no time in eating the berries. She instantly felt less woozy and far more strong. The vulpix was about to ask Officer Magnezone about Flo when it suddenly shot out a string of statements in quick succession.

"A TIME GEAR HAS GONE MISSING WITHIN THE FOREST. BZZT! DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS? DID YOU SEE ANYONE WHILST ENTERING? WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR VISIT? DID YOU STEAL THE TIME GEAR? BZZT! IDENTIFY YOURSELF, YOU ARE NOT KNOWN TO US."

These all took Ashen off-guard.

"U-uh," she stammered as a response, and was about to continue when she was interrupted,

"BZZT! FAILURE TO ANSWER QUESTONS MAY REFLECT BADLY ON YOU IN FUTURE ENQUIRIES."

"I-I… I didn't know about the Time Gear…" due to her shaken state she found it hard to recall all of the questions he had asked her, so she paused, and luckily was not interrupted, "I didn't take it. I saw no one yesterday. And I'm Ashen, a vulpix nomad. I've been travelling for… a long time. As for the purpose-"

"INCONSISTENCY! BZZT! INCONSISTENCY! YOU CLAIM TO BE A TRAVELLER, YET YOU WERE DEFEATED IN AN EASY DUNGEON LIKE TREESHROUD FOREST. EXPLAIN, OR YOUR LACK OF COOPERATION WLL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CONSIDERING YOU AS AN ACCOMPLICE TO THE TIME GEAR THIEF."

"I… I…" she was almost in tears, but quickly she managed to think up a lie, "I normally have a partner who does most of the fighting, but he left to see some family. We said we'd rendezvous at Treeshroud Forest centre, but I was mobbed by five bellsprout so I didn't make it." Part of her wished it had been five bellsprout which had mobbed her, rather than one which she had revived and then had defeated her, in her inexperience, whilst having what should have been a crippling type disadvantage.

"BZZT!" The magnezone eyed her with suspicion, "YOU HAVE NO TREASURE BAG, BUT THIS EXPLANATION IS ACCEPTABLE. WE WILL REGISTER YOUR EXISTANCE ON OUR SYSTEMS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE. BZZZT! CURRENTLY YOU ARE REGISTERED AS A SUSPECT FOR OUR ONGOING TIME GEAR INVESTIGATION. YOUR INTERVIEW WILL BE CONDUCTED SHORTLY. BZZT! PLEASE WAIT."

To her utter relief, Officer Magnezone left her alone in the room. She was tempted to sneak out, but Flo was in here. She had to find a way to reach him. And somehow, being a fugitive on the run from the law seemed like it wouldn't be helpful. She entertained thoughts about daring and improbable rescues until another pokémon walked in.

The pokémon which entered was dark blue and yellow in colouration. She was modelled on a lion, with powerful leg muscles and static bristling in her fur. However despite her formidable appearance and towering height she stood timidly. She shot Ashen a shy glance before smiling apologetically.

"Sorry about Magnus," the police officer began, "he always shouts like that. It's quite unnerving. He and the _magnemite _are in charge of arrests and public appearances. They do a fair bit in here too, though. The whole idea is something to do with intimidating criminals, and you have to admit they are intimidating!" Theluxray laughed, amicably. "They don't really understand how pokémon think. Not their fault, just how they're born."

The lion paused in her speech momentarily here to give Ashen a chance to speak. Then she scanned the vulpix, looking closely. The fox remained silent for a few minutes, before the pressure grew too intense. She had to ask somebody about Flo, anyway, and this luxray seemed kind. It was just that the stare of the pokémon was so unnerving that it forced her into premature action.

"Did a zorua come in here a few days ago?"

"Yes. Florar was his given name. He came in for the arson of Eastern Forest." Her eyes were narrowed, her stance completely changed. Ashen realized with a start that she had just been manipulated into opening up; the police officer's manner had been engineered from the start. "What does that mean to you?"

If the lion had continued to pretend to be kind and she had not noticed then she probably would have told her the truth. But with this deception freshly uncovered in her mind, Ashen was at her most suspicious. At least the magnezone had said what he had meant, this sneakiness was just underhand. It removed any sense of trust and stopped another from developing. It took her attention away from any guilt she had towards Flo being imprisoned for her crime.

"I need to see him." Ashen's voice was clipped, cold. She would not elaborate.

"Any particular reason why?"

"Is there any reason why I cannot?"

"No."

"Then let me see him."

The luxrayeyed her coldly. The vulpix was unflinching. A silent face-off took place between the two of them. Tension brewed in the air, fire raged within the vulpix, bleeding out in the form of heat, and static fizzed off the electric-type's fur. The x-ray eyes of the police officer looked through Ashen, but she met her gaze with dark, guarded eyes. Momentarily, it looked like a physical fight would break out, which the vulpix would definitely lose. Then the luxray relaxed.

A smile, unnaturally wide, broke the lion's face in two. Her jawline formed into a chasm which swallowed all possible peace-making content, leaving only open hostility in her bared fangs. The fox looked into the smile, the abyss, and shuddered. The fault-line in her face moved, speaking falsely conceding words,

"Okay, you can see him…" she paused, dramatically, as though she spoke to a wider audience, "But be careful, wouldn't want an _inexperienced civilian_ like you getting hurt by a hardened criminal. I'll be there, for your own safety, _of course_."

Through Ashen's intense, literally burning, hatred she barely repressed a snarl, knowing it would be accompanied by fire. Instead she curtly nodded and followed her foe through the locked door and down darkened corridor after corridor. It became more and more miserable as they progressed, and she would have become aware of an acute need to empathize with Flo if not for the luxray's _flaunting._ She marched down the corridor with arrogance, not confidence. It was as though it was her territory. The vulpix followed with supressed cold fury.

Eventually they reached a corridor with doors on both sides. There was muttering coming from some, and the lion's indiscreet marching elicited shouting from some. Threats mostly, vague threats, pleading sometimes. Enough for Ashen to see that this was not the kind of place where a childlike Flo should be. The further they walked down the nastier the threats became. Her sense of rage became overcome slightly by nausea at the thought of what these pokémon would do, for she was certain that some of these threats were not empty.

But when the luxray turned around and caught her looking ill she gave such a smirk that all unease was once again replaced by anger. They continued for two more doors before stopping at one three doors from the end. The police officer lifted a heavy latch on the side of the door facing them with her nose and stepped inside.

It was small, stone and bare. The walls were empty and uniform; reminding Ashen painfully of the forty-floor dungeon they had climbed through together. There was a basin filled with stagnant-looking water in the corner, the only other object was a matted bundle of black and red fur curled up on a bundle of straw.

"Why are you here, Luxray?" Flo looked up wearily, seeing only the luxray and not the vulpix behind her.

She stepped out of the way, revealing Ashen. Flo's appearance was too much for her. His fur was matted, his eyes more milky and dull than she had ever seen them. He was thin, she could see some of his ribs, but most of all was the hopelessness in his expression. He was resigned to this imprisonment, just like he had been resigned to his father's death.

This changed when he saw Ashen. He didn't exactly look hopeful; he looked more like he was wary. Scared for her. But there was a spark of energy there that hadn't been before. Something behind his eyes, although they seemed unreadable and alien to his friend.

"Flo…" _Florar, _she thought, _they said that was his full name._

The infernal lion stepped between them again, cutting him off from view.

"So you've finally given up on appearing to be other pokémon, prisoner. That's refreshing." The luxray was snarling. "Now tell me how you know this vulpix. I think she's involved in the Time Gear theft, and you are too. Start talking or you'll end up down here in this gloom until your last appeal has been exhausted and you're of age to be executed, and she'll live an empty life, never seeing you again."

Ashen's anger continued to boil within her. She could not feel sorry for Flo, she was too consumed with anger.

"She hasn't done anything, and nor have I…" his voice was so weak, so defeated.

"LIKELY STORY!" The roar literally blew the zorua back to the wall. He hit it with a thump that must have hurt, for he moaned slightly.

"Stop it!" The vulpix cried, "He's right. We haven't done _anything_. It's all a mistake. Please let us go."

"I will protect this country," her voice was proud, "from scum like you. I will stop you from wrecking the flow of time for everyone. Even if you haven't done that, even if it wasn't you, _he_ is guilty and you appear to be guilty. Does it matter if you've done something yet? What matters is that you _will_ do something illegal. I can tell. I've got good instincts."

Ashen shot a hopeless glance at Flo. This pokémon was clearly deranged. She was so powerful, far too powerful for them to even stand a chance of winning… yet the fire-type found this only strengthened her resolve. So much rage was boiling within the surface, anger at the police's rudeness, anger at how they had treated Flo, anger at how they could allow this luxray into a position of power…

Then, quickly, the police officer ran over to the wall and kicked Flo. Involuntarily Ashen opened her mouth to protest, but the fireball of her resentment burst lout instead. It had been building up for so long that it blew the vulpix backwards against the door opposite, and when the smoke cleared they could see the lion, unconscious on the floor. She was burned, but it was nothing an oran berry wouldn't fix.

The pair looked at each other, mutually uncertain. Then they turned towards the exit and began to run.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, the chapter titles are irrelevant. They started off relevant and then there was Chapter 4: Smoke, and seriously how is there smoke unless it's metaphorical smoke because there are further consequences of her fire or something. Chapter 2 was meant to be called Rekindle, but every chapter seems to be further extinguishing so I only used it now. To be perfectly honest, this chapter is also more of a descent than ascent. But hey, I had to use the title sometime.**

**Sorry for the long note about titles you don't care about. And sorry for the persistent apologies. And the short chapters.**


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